Joe Yerdon

When the Capitals waived Michael Nylander last week, it was clear that they had a plan of attack for how to make his $4.875 million cap hit disappear once again this season. Last year, they were able to pawn him off to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins as well as off to Finland. This time…

Last season: (38-36-8, 84 points, 4th in Northwest Division, 13th in Western Conference) The Wild were anything but that last season and while the record is deceptively above .500, the Wild were a mixed-up jumble last season. Playing their first season without Jacques Lemaire at the helm had it’s ups and downs while learning a…

Last season: (27-47-8, 62 points, 5th in Northwest Division,15th in Western Conference) The Oilers were, hands down, the worst team in the league last year. At no point did they exhibit any hope for their fans and the moment in November when Nikolai Khabibulin went down with a back injury was the moment when the…

One of the worst kept secrets in hockey this off-season has finally been revealed in Montreal today. The Canadiens announced that Brian Gionta will become the 28th captain in team history. Joining him as the lettered leaders of the team are defensemen Hal Gill and Andrei Markov who will both wear the “A” this season.…

Here’s the recap of tonight’s preseason action. Soak it in. Washington 3 – Boston 2 Plus: Alex Semin had a goal for Washington. Michael Neuvirth played well for the Caps in goal. Brad Marchand had a goal for Boston. Minus: Alex Ovechkin got a bit grumpy in this one and exchanged some spirited words with…

Last season: (43-30-9, 95 points, 2nd in Northwest Division, 8th in Western Conference) The Avalanche were last year’s Cinderella story of sorts. They got off to a hot start and just kept winning games. Analysts were shocked by this considering how poorly they finished the year before and the fact that they kept getting outplayed…

With the reemergence of Nikolai Khabibulin in Edmonton, much in part thanks to him filing an appeal on his drunk driving conviction, the future of Jeff Deslauriers or Devan Dubnyk hangs in the balance. The role to be the backup goalie to Khabibulin is up for grabs and while both Deslauriers and Dubnyk did what…

Quebec City’s renewed vigor for the NHL is a truly fascinating thing. From the stories about how they’re looking to build an NHL-ready arena in the city to replace the vastly outdated Colisée de Quebec to speculating on which teams they think would be most ready to move out of their current home to move…

Last season: (40-32-10, 90 points, 3rd in Northwest Division, t-9th in Western Conference) The Flames just missed out on the playoffs last year, finishing five points behind Colorado in the standings. For Calgary, times were tough as Jarome Iginla struggled and the team got virtually no secondary scoring. Rene Bourque did his part to help,…

The Stanley Cup is the world’s most famous sports trophy and part of its legacy is having wild misspellings and even names completely crossed off of it. As the engraving of the Chicago Blackhawks’ names was revealed today, you can add another name to the list of misspellings: Kris Versteeg. The Chicago Sun Times’ Adam…

Here’s tonight’s schedule of preseason action. Can you smell it everyone? It’s nearly the end of preseason and October is almost here. Of course, even when October arrives there’ll still be some preseason games left to play. Oh, cruel twist of fate. Anyhow, here’s tonight’s schedule and, as always, times listed are Eastern time because…

On Friday, we told you about idle speculation stirring out of Denver from The Denver Post’s Adrian Dater that in his wildest of pipe dreams, the Avalanche would look into Devils right wing Jamie Langenbrunner to help fill the hole left by concussion-ailed winger Peter Mueller. As it turns out, idle speculation can sometimes have…

With Mark Streit out for the next six months for the Islanders after suffering a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in his shoulder, the question now turns to what Isles GM Garth Snow will do to replace him on the roster. The Islanders present a fascinating situation for how to replace your best defenseman.…

Don’t ever let someone tell you that training camp isn’t important. For Washington Capitals tryout candidate Matt Hendricks, it’s turned out to be a great thing. After scoring a hat trick last Wednesday in a preseason game against the Blue Jackets, Hendricks has parlayed that game as well as his overall effort in camp into…

To the surprise of virtually no one, New York Rangers recently waived defenseman Wade Redden has cleared waivers and will be sent to AHL camp with the Hartford Wolfpack. With that, Redden’s $6.5 million cap hit disappears to the AHL and the race for the spot on the Rangers blue line is on. With the…

Last season: (30-38-14, 74 points, 5th in Northeast Division, 15th in Eastern Conference) It was another tough season for the Leafs, this time finishing with the second-worst record in the NHL. They weren’t able to reap the rewards of that thanks to trading their first-round pick to Boston in the Phil Kessel trade. Don’t know if…

Last season: (44-32-6, 94 points, 2nd in Northeast Division, 5th in Eastern Conference) If anyone thought the Senators would be fifth in the East at the start of last season, we all would’ve happily called them liars and been done with it. Instead, the Sens took advantage of well-timed win streaks and rode the goaltending hot…

It was a light night in preseason action and somehow the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make an appearance. Tonight’s big game occurred in Edmonton. Big being a relative term considering it’s a preseason game. Detroit 5 – NY Rangers 3 Plus: Brian Rafalski pretended like it was the Olympics once again scoring a goal and…

While the Islanders are busy dealing with how to handle Mark Streit’s shoulder injury that will keep him out for up to six months, they’ve added a few players to their training camp roster on professional tryouts. NHL veterans Manny Legace, Dean McAmmond, Anders Eriksson, as well as minor leaguers Krys Kolanos and Joel Martin.…

Last season: (39-33-10, 88 points, 4th in Northeast Division, 8th in Eastern Conference) In what was a highly frustrating regular season for fans, edging into the playoffs in the final days of the season turned into a miraculous run through the playoffs to the conference finals. Head coach: Jacques Martin begins his second season with…

A few teams have some salary cap issues to address before the season starts. The Rangers have already gotten a jump on things by putting Wade Redden on waivers. Other teams, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, still have some questions of their own to answer as far as what they’ll do to get under the…

Last season: (45-27-10, 100 points, 1st in Northeast Division, 3rd in Eastern Conference) The Sabres played above their heads and thanks to Team USA hero Ryan Miller, they were able to win the Northeast. The team’s lack of consistent scoring came back to bite them in the rear, losing to the Bruins in six games…

I know what you’re thinking when you see the headline. “Oh hell no, not more of this stuff!” That’s a fine, fair and normal reaction but for those of you thinking that the NHLPA rolled over when the NHL punished the New Jersey Devils for circumventing the salary cap on their first contract offer for…

The Jonathan Cheechoo experiment in Dallas is over. The Stars announced their list of cuts today and Cheechoo’s name was on it. The former 50-goal scorer was getting a tryout with the Stars this year to see if he could recapture his scoring touch that once made him the big man in San Jose, but…

Last season: (39-30-13, 91 points, 3rd place in Northeast Division, 6th in Eastern Conference) After manhandling Buffalo in the first round and getting out to a 3-0 series lead against the Flyers in the second round, Boston folded up shop and lost in seven games. What turned into a feel-good season after some early struggles…